First Semester for First Years: A Divided Opinion
As a student, I have always been curious about what makes –or breaks– the “university experience” façade and how aspects such as location, academics and social environment have on it. Given this curiosity, I decided to investigate how the IEU experience is perceived by first year students, and how this perception changes depending on which campus they find themselves in.. The Stork conducted a survey analyzing how the first semester for first year students went, including questions aimed at rating the university experience in terms of academics and social life. From the results obtained, we can now gain some insight on each campus’ saving graces and their particularities - at least for first year students.
Looking at the results, it seems as if all responding students felt that the first semester, academically, went from moderately okay to extraordinary. For some, it even seemed to be too ‘easy’ or not “academically challenging enough” thus why they could get the scores they got; that goes for both campuses. However, apart from this, there were a lot of contradicting results.
From the survey results, a little bit more than half of the respondents have thought about going back home; these same respondents showed a higher inclination to answering from ⅖ to ⅗ when it came to the social/personal side of university life. This could be interpreted to show how much leading a more socially active lifestyle can affect the way you feel at the university you find yourself at.
Segovia students, on average, have shown to have had a prosperous social life (never dropping their rating from a ⅗) during this first semester at IE. From their responses, it seems as if the international environment at the Segovia campus is one main aspect to why there is such a difference between the Madrid campus (regarding social life). A Segovia-based respondent mentioned that “amazing people and proper integration to the environment” are the main reasons for such successful semester, while some other respondents claimed that the environment sometimes feels like a “glorified high school” granted by judgement and cliques. This last perception, unfortunately, was seen in the answers for both campuses.
In general, lacking (or exceeding) on the social life measure did not translate to a poor academic performance, in either campus; however, a greater life outside university has shown high academic performance as well. Not only this, but people who lead socially active lives show not having thought about going back to their respective countries as much, if not at all.
We can deduct from this survey on first years’ first semester experience the differences each campus has. With a better campus life, Segovia shows to be a space in which students can be more socially involved. However, students in the Segovia campus claimed to being bored and therefore explaining the higher number of people who feel homesick. Madrid, on the other side, although seems to be lacking a good campus life, has a shorter percentage in distaste and wanting to go back. Adding to that, no one claimed to be un-entertained or left with nothing to do.
Both campuses seem to have a plethora of cliques and drama, making it –for some– a repetition of high school. All in all, both campuses have their ups and downs, but when it comes to making the big choice, one should base themselves on their personal experiences and preferences to avoid dissatisfaction.
(Editorial note: The Stork as IE University’s newspaper, is concerned with the students and their experience at IE. For this reason, the editorial board encourages students who are finding themselves in difficult times to seek out help to make the most out of their experience in IE. The University disposes of a Mentoring and Counseling department, in which you can get appointments to talk to professional psychologists in a safe and confidential environment. The IEU Mentoring & Counseling Offices are located at:
Segovia Campus → Main Campus Building, 3rd Floor
Madrid Campus → Calle Pedro de Valdivia, 21, 1st Floor)